Throwback Thursday: The 1951 Bear Attack at Beech Bend

Continuing our unusual and paranormal throwbacks during the month of October, this story is about a bear at Beech Bend Amusement Park. We covered alligators found in Barren River earlier this month, and now it’s time for a bear attack.

In September 1951, according to the Bowling Green Daily News, the Western Kentucky University Music department was enjoying a faculty and student picnic at Beech Bend Park. A sophomore from Dayton, Ohio, was speaking near a professor, when the student didn’t realize a bear had escaped one of the zoo exhibits and was right behind him. Then 21-year-old Thomas Pogue had a bear on his back, literally.
Pogue had an estimated 150-pound bear on his shoulders for several minutes. He’d noticed the bear was there, but turned his back on it, not realizing the bear was no longer wearing a collar or any restraints. The bear took advantage of the situation and hopped onto Pogue, whose screams then filled the park’s picnic area.

The Music department’s head at the time was Dr. Hugh Gunderson, who immediately ran to Pogue’s side to deal with the bear situation. Gunderson smashed a couple of soft drink cases on the bear’s head while its teeth were clamped onto Pogue’s cheek. Charles Garvin himself, the park’s owner, arrived on the scene and held the bear’s head while one of the park’s staff ran for a sledge hammer. The five-pound hammer quieted the bear for good. Thomas Pogue was sent to the City-County Hospital on top of Reservoir Hill for lots of lacerations, but he survived.

What happened to the bear? According to the Bowling Green Daily News, directly quoted, “As for Mister Bruin, he was reported all dressed for dinner (somebody else’s), early this afternoon, at a local meatpacking house.”

Beech Bend Park doesn’t have these live animal exhibits anymore. They decided to focus more on the amusement park and raceway events decades ago. No more bear attacks from escapees. The North American Bear Center website reports about 30 to 40 bear attacks in the U.S. annually, with maybe one to three being fatal. The In Defense of Animals organization that protects animals all over the world says the current chance of being injured by a bear is one in 2.1 million. But stay vigilant if you’re in a known bear habitat area.